I Can…Still Hurt Myself At Work Like Anyone Else

At the moment it seems like every piece of equipment at work is causing problems. From the sewerage pipes that have been spewing litter into our loading area, to the broken air conditioning, to the noisy speakers that the boss refuses to turn down, to the broken dock leveller and to the cardboard press that is always getting blocked up. There is also a lovely swarm of bees that have made a springtime return to their familiar little hidey hole just outside of our roller door where we accept deliveries.

And the swear words that come out of my mouth during the day seem to be multiplying because of all these problems.

It was lunchtime on Thursday. It had been a crazy busy morning. We had the roller door pulled about one third of the way down in order to keep those bees out of our warehouse. I had just finished accepting a delivery, and our dock ramp was elevated. I walked up onto the elevated dock ramp, so that my weight would bring it back down to ground level. And in doing so, I smacked my head hard onto the roller door that was pulled one third of the way down.

I was pissed off. I swore. If my Mum was there, she would have told me off for not looking at what I was doing. I walked over and sat down for a few moments to rest, until one of my work Mums noticed that I had a small gash on my head and was bleeding. It was nothing serious. The cut was not very deep, and a once over with some alcohol wipes did the trick. Except for all of those “oh, what did you do to yourself there?” questions that followed for the rest of the day.

I always pride myself in the fact that diabetes doesn’t affect my job. Diabetes hasn’t stopped me from doing the things that I want to do. And even though I hurt myself that day, it was a nice reminder that I am still able to hurt myself like anyone else. In a weird way, that smack on the head made me feel normal. Diabetes hasn’t stopped me from doing the same job that my colleagues without diabetes do each day. Diabetes hasn’t confined me to a job of restricted duties and being over-precautious. And I might even daresay that I get more work done that some of the other people there who don’t have diabetes. Just saying.